{"id":31938,"date":"2025-09-04T07:33:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T05:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ethnomuseum.pl\/?post_type=wystawy-lista&p=31938"},"modified":"2025-12-12T12:05:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T11:05:25","slug":"ernest-cole-a-lens-in-exile","status":"publish","type":"wystawy-lista","link":"https:\/\/ethnomuseum.pl\/en\/wystawy-lista\/ernest-cole-a-lens-in-exile\/","title":{"rendered":"Ernest Cole: A Lens in Exile"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ernest Cole\u2019s works are a visual narrative of the everyday life, strength, and dignity of Black residents of Harlem, as well as a poignant reflection on systemic violence and racial exclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABOUT THE EXHIBITON<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition presents a moving phase in the work of the legendary South African photographer. His photographs, created in New York between 1967 and 1972, offer a visual narrative of the everyday life, strength, and dignity of Black residents of Harlem, as well as a poignant reflection on systemic violence and racial exclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ernest Cole (1940\u20131990) was one of the first Black independent photographers from South Africa. He collaborated with publications such as Drum<\/em> and The New York Times<\/em>. After fleeing South Africa in 1966, the apartheid regime confiscated his passport and banned him from returning to his homeland for life. In the United States, he focused on street photography and, between 1969 and 1971, collaborated with the Tiofoto collective in Sweden. In 1972, Cole stopped photographing and, over the years, experienced periods of homelessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Negatives from Ernest Cole\u2019s American period were considered lost for more than four decades. It was not until 2017 that over 60,000 of them were discovered in a vault of a Stockholm bank. In 2024, Aperture published Cole\u2019s photographs for the first time in the book The True America<\/em>, documenting the lives of Black people in the late 1960s and early 1970s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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Ernest Cole did not depict the people he photographed as passive victims. He portrayed their strength and agency in the fight for their rights. His photographs bear witness to the birth of a collective identity, as well as the power of movements such as Black Pride and Black Power. In the exhibition, the narrative of oppression is intertwined with images of everyday life in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ernest Cole\u2019s photography exhibition is another voice in the issues that the National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw addresses in this year\u2019s exhibition program, Against Stereotypes<\/em>. These include topics such as social exclusion, racial prejudice, as well as the affirmation of Black communities and cultures\u2014their pride and strength. From the Museum\u2019s perspective, the question of photographic representation is particularly important: creating images on one\u2019s own terms, from within the community, and in opposition to the oppressive stereotypes that have been propagated through this medium for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The temporary exhibition Ernest Cole: A Photographer in Exile<\/em> is organized by the National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw and Against Gravity, the organizer of the 22nd Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, in collaboration with Autograph, London, and Magnum Photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

curatorial team<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Julia Grudzie\u0144<\/strong> \u2013 a graduate of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology and a student of Artes Liberales at the University of Warsaw, staff member of the Education Department at the National Museum of Ethnography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Sealy<\/strong> \u2013 Director of Autograph Gallery and Professor of Photography at the University of the Arts London. Curator of the first edition of the exhibition Ernest Cole: A Lens in Exile<\/em> at Autograph Gallery in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dost\u0119pno\u015b\u0107 wystawy<\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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  • Content available in Polish and English<\/li>\n
  • Audio description of the entire exhibition and selected objects in Polish and English<\/li>\n
  • Tactile graphics of selected objects<\/li>\n
  • Video guide to the exhibition and information in Polish Sign Language<\/li>\n
  • Wide circulation areas and resting spaces<\/li>\n
  • Texts with appropriately sized fonts to ensure comfortable reading for a wide audience<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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    Osoby tworz\u0105ce wystaw\u0119<\/div>\n \n \n

    Director of the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw:<\/strong> Magdalena Wr\u00f3blewska
    Curator (Autograph):<\/strong> Mark Sealy
    Curator (National Museum of Ethnography):<\/strong> Julia Grudzie\u0144
    Text authors:<\/strong> Julia Grudzie\u0144, Mark Sealy
    Project coordination:<\/strong> Julia Grudzie\u0144
    Visual identity and layout:<\/strong> Parastudio
    Translation:<\/strong> Agata Dawid
    Editing and proofreading:<\/strong> Marta Elas
    Conservation supervision:<\/strong> Anna Wielechowska-Olszak
    Accessibility:<\/strong> Justyna Zieniuk, Foundation for Culture Without Barriers
    Production coordination and logistics:<\/strong> Marta Ancelewska
    Technical team and organizational cooperation:<\/strong> Mariusz Horo\u015b, Marcin Kiersnowski, Kamila Ko\u0144ska, Piotr Maciukiewicz, \u0141ukasz Malinowski, Tomasz Rychter, Zenon Winnicki
    PR and communications:<\/strong> \u0141ukasz Gackowski, Patrycja Lewandowska, Marta Matysiak, Jakub Nowoci\u0144ski, Przemys\u0142aw Walczak<\/p>\n

    Acknowledgments:<\/strong> Andrea Holzherr (Magnum Photos), Clara Fremaut (Magnum Photos), Irene Lombardo (Magnum Photos), Leslie Matlaisane (The Ernest Cole Family Trust), Raoul Peck, Mark Sanders, Denise Wolff (Aperture), Bindi Vora (Autograph), Greta Hewison (Autograph), and the team and staff of Autograph London<\/p>\n

    Organizers and partners:<\/strong> National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw, Millennium Docs Against Gravity Festival, Autograph London, Magnum Photos, The Ernest Cole Family Trust<\/p>\n\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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